ROMEO AND JULIET

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BOOK AND THE MOVIE

There are so many differences between the play and the movie about Romeo and Juliet, but there are the main differences:


- The classical play takes place in Verona (Italy) in the XVI century, and the new version takes place in Verona Beach (USA) in the XX century (1996 approx). 2 places and times completely different.

- Also there are many signs in the movie, like water and fire (although this is not really a difference). In the movie, water represents the love and fire represents the hate. Thats why when Romeo and Juliet are together there is water near them. For example, when Romeo met Juliet, they were seeing each other through a fish tank; or when Romeo and Juliet were at the pool (full of water, of course). However, the first fight that appears in the movie between the Capulets and the Montagues is in a petrol station, and it ends surrounded of fire. The fire signs are representing the separation between the 2 families: the Montagues and the Capulets.



- In the book all the characters speak in verse. In the movie I think that all the characters speak in verse too, but I'm not sure. Romeo and Juliet, in the movie, speak in verse, you can notice it because of the way that they talk and because they say famous verses of the play. In the book there is no narrator, because the characters when they are thinking they speak, I mean, there isn't a narrator explaining what are they thinking, they just say it. The narrator only descrives some parts or something that the characters do. In the movie there isn't a narrator neither, because, as the play, the characters say all they think.

- The costumes represent the person. For example, Juliet is dressed like an angel because she is pure, good, innocent... Romeo is dressed like a knight because he is a good man, strong, gentile...

- Also, in the movie there are small differences, because they addapted the play. For example, in the book the characters used swords and in the movie, guns. But, in general all the situation is different: the places are different, the clothing, the hairstyle, the vocabulary...  

- Other differences are: Paris don't die in the movie, and in the play dies murdered by Romeo; the fight in the movie is in a petrol station, not in the street...